"I'll tell you about 'Stake' if you'll insure my safety. Your buddy out back has you covered...

My buddy out back??? STAKE!!! But she just said that she'd tell me about Stake... Achak's mind goes down a strange whirlpool of scenarios where Stake might have been captured but then freed himself when the runners came for Achak. Then Stake trailed them here and provided covering fire from the rear, which might explain why the invisible pistols dropped for no reason? Achak isn't exactly brilliant to start and the drugs aren't helping. Or maybe she means Rusty??? Yeah, that must be it!!!

<<@Achak [Rusty] You alive in there, chummer? We're backed up outside the church. Also, we got a guy in a separate van approaching. He with you, or should we geek his ass? Looks like he was gunning for the guys gunning for you.>>

Rusty's comm just jumbles up the situation all over again. Another guy, separate van??? Maybe it is Stake!!! But she told me she'd tell me about Stake... And then the loop begins again.

<<@Rusty [Achak] Hold off on him. He might have sniped a guy in a chameleon suit who was sneaking up on me.>>

Thankfully Achak's text messages come across with less intensity than his regular thinking.

He commanded the drone in the church to broadcast an ARO containing the text "Spare her. Need info. - Mercer". If they were Stake's team, they'd likely know who he was and hopefully his words would carry weight.

Mercer??? Wha... Mercer's alive??? And sending messages via this drone??? Achak's eyes practically cross with the improbability of it all.

As she approaches, the magician takes off her ballistic mask, revealing a darker-skinned ork woman, Aztlan and Japanese by her looks. "Like I said, you got us beat. Give me your word you'll let us walk out of here, and I'll do everything I can to make it worth your while, wiz?"

Achak raises his Alpha, jumpy and hyper. "Alright!!!" he says. "You tell me what you know, then you're going to cough up as much nuyen or cyber as it takes to fix this church and pay off my boys outside!!! I don't want to kill you!!! Killing in a church PISSES ME OFF and killing on the Sabbath is EVEN WORSE!!! I forgive you for shooting me even though it really hurts because I can turn the other cheek and because I'm a NICE GUY!!!"

Achak raises his Alpha, jumpy and hyper. "Alright!!!" he says. "You tell me what you know, then you're going to cough up as much nuyen or cyber as it takes to fix this church and pay off my boys outside!!! I don't want to kill you!!! Killing in a church PISSES ME OFF and killing on the Sabbath is EVEN WORSE!!! I forgive you for shooting me even though it really hurts because I can turn the other cheek and because I'm a NICE GUY!!!"

"I know I can wake up your lady friend here, but she isn't going to like it," the woman says kneeling by Sister Rebecca's side and pulling a medkit from her armored jacket. She starts unfastening Sister Rebecca's armor, but it's hot to the touch, and it takes her a few tries to get the singed material open. Once she has, she applies the medkit, and it gets to work on lowering the Sister's core body temperature. Next, she lays her hands on the Sister, and Achak can sense the manipulation of the mana around them. "If you haven't been able to tell, this isn't really my scene. Casting in here is a little difficult, but I'm pretty sure I can reduce the worst of her wounds." As she lays her hands on Sister Rebecca Achak can see the redness and burned skin begin to take on a more fleshlike tone.

Pulling out a Stim Patch, the magician continues, "I can make her conscious for a bit, but she'll probably go right back out in a few minutes. It'll give us time to finish up here, though, wiz?"

She removes the adhesive backing from the Stim Patch, applies it, and Sister Rebecca flashes back to consciousness. The woman then stands up and begins racing around the sanctuary, trying to stabilize her teammates in a similar fashion. Pastor Llewellyn pulls himself up on shaky legs, and regards the damage to the church. Dismayed, he steadies himself on one of the crumbling pews, and says, "What did you do?"

Achak tries to concentrate on what the woman is saying so that it doesn't get lost in the vibrations inside his head. He nods furiously to indicate that she may continue, although he keeps his Alpha at the low ready to discourage misbehavior.

Achak isn't quite sure if Llewellyn means "what have you done to the church?" or "what are you doing with your life to cause people to try to murder you thusly?" In clearer moments, he might have cited Samson smiting the Philistines in the Temple of Dagon, but Biblical parallels are a little beyond him at the moment.

"I don't know, Pastor; let's ask her!!! What did I do to deserve this???" Achak has guesses about the answer but doesn't want to 'lead the witness', so to speak.

He kneels down to retrieve the clip of Ex-ex that he discarded earlier in favor of the APDS.

After bringing Sister Rebecca back to consciousness, the ork moves to the north wall of the church, and stares down, her expression a cross between shock, disbelief, and a deep sadness. She leans down to turn the man -- Dib, apparently -- on his back, but there is no magic, and no medkit to save him. Instead, she closes his eyes, and whispers something that no one else can hear.

Despite the flurry of impulses firing off in Achak's gray matter, he does see the magician give the runner with the Alpha a little kick as she walks past him and kneels next to Tiny. He also thinks it odd that she would start with the troll above the human. Peeling off Tiny's body armor, Achak can see how his close grouping punched through the armor, and then the massive troll's breastplate, before puncturing a lung. The woman, following the instructions from her medkit, forces a stent through the troll's side, and a thick, dark trail of blood dribbles on the carpet, followed by the ragged sound of the troll's unconscious breathing. There's no time and no call or smiles, but it's obvious that the woman is relieved by the way she carries herself.

"I don't know, Pastor; let's ask her!!! What did I do to deserve this???" Achak has guesses about the answer but doesn't want to 'lead the witness', so to speak.

"Look omae," she says, cradling the massive troll's head in her lap as she speaks, "you're about the weirdest crew of runners I've ever seen. I mean, you don't talk like runners, and you're not riding that high like a runner. Thank Ghost for that, no offense, father," she says, placing Tiny's head back on the floor and rising to approach the downed man with the Alpha.

"But you sure as hell fight like some runners. As for the why, you run off with an advance from the Vory and don't deliver on the work, what the fuck'd you think was gonna happen? Again, no offense father."

She kneels next to the man Achak drilled through the Ballistic's mask, and removes it carefully. A single round has entered his face, leaving burn marks on his cheek, and removing most of his jaw, and a good deal of skin up to his ear. "He's still alive," she says a little incredulously. "He's the one who brought us on. Never worked with him before, and honestly I don't care if he walks outta here. You want to talk to him, I can probably keep him alive. Lemme know."

Achak brandishes his Alpha menacingly. "We didn't run off with no advance from no Vory!!!" he insists, losing track of his double and triple negatives. "If that's the story you've been fed then YES I want to speak with Fragger Faceless here!!!" Achak considers the mess that used to be the man's jaw. "Maybe through DNI!!!"

<<@Mercer [Achak] Are you copying all this?>>

<<@Sister Rebecca [Achak] Rise and shine and give God the glory, glory. The runners' story is we stole from the Vory, Vory.>>

"Leave the armor and the weapons!!! That's your ticket to SAFE PASSAGE with the locals outside!!! And I'm going to need to see a SUBSTANTIAL DONATION to the church here for cleanup and repairs!!! The good news is that it's TAX DEDUCTIBLE!!!"

Mercer follows along with the conversation going on inside the church while the Roadmaster pulls closer, watching the various hoodlums watch him. The remaining standing Hunter messages him, telling him that the church is secure. Secure from what? There's still a platoon of gang members lined up outside, ready to breach! But they keep not breaching, and Mercer finally comes to the conclusion that the gangers must be in communication with this Achak fella.

As the van rolls to a stop, Mercer mentally flips off the jammer and notes that the gangers seem more relaxed, and that none come to "greet" him - the "stand down" order must have been given, and Mercer given clearance to be here. Apparently the gangers had some respect for the church, and thus the religious nuts protecting it. He wasn't going to look that gift horse in the mouth. Still, best to tone down the party favors lest he push some itchy trigger finger over the edge, so he leaves Vera and the assault rifle in the van and steps out with Yoki slung over one shoulder and across his back.

He gets another message from Achak, confirming that Mercer was watching the conversation in the church unfold.

<< @Achack [Mercer] Five by five. >>

Mercer knew from the camera feed that Achak was freaking and he wondered how much of his message would register. Nothing for it now but to get there where he was more than a disembodied voice.

<< @Achack [Mercer] I'm coming in now.>>

Aside from the gangers, the street is eerily empty. The gangers have largely left the other van, so Mercer mentally tasks the drone that he'd parked there to drop the flag ARO and return to the sky to keep watch over the church. As he enters the church, he sends the drone there to join its mate and removes his ballistic mask and his hat.

He nods to the female ork kneeling near Ikiryo and offers a "ma'am" by way of greeting. He notes the priest fretting over the ruin that the altar had become and gives him a curt nod, "Father". He bends over to disarm the large troll, careful to stay out of the way of the medkit the ork set up on him. He moves to the other fallen as he talks, making sure that their weapons are out of easy reach.

"Ashak, Aytchak - I'm sorry son, but I have no idea how to pronounce your name. No matter. Look, Jawless here is our link to whatever group has been disappearing Hunter teams, so keeping him alive is a necessary evil. The others are civilians who almost certainly had no idea who they were really working for. Let 'em loose or let the law deal with 'em, but I don't kill Clean folk if'n I don't have to, and the Stake I know doesn't either."

"That said, I don't like bein' lied to. I didn't catch your name, missy, but you claim this is your first job with Ikiryo, and maybe that's true. But you seem to be under the misconception that this is all gang related. That's fine, maybe you'll sleep better if I let you keep believing that."

He rounds back on the mage as she works on Ikiryo. "What's done is done. You've got a good head on your shoulders, makin' right and saving your chums" he looks at the invisible man's corpse " - well, most of 'em" he remembers the gangers shooting the decker in the van "- one of 'em. World could use more people like you, but what the world needs takes a backseat to what I need right now, and I need to know what else y'all had planned cause I doubt it took a whole week's planning to set up a simple ambush."

Slowly, a hazy form that resembles reality begins to take shape before her groggy eyes. Everything hurts. It aches, burns, throbs, and irritates to even keep her eyes open, but she does. Slowly, the woman known as Sister Rebecca lifts her head up off the ground. Through the soot coated visor of her helmet, she can see the church is in ruins. Blood and shell casings are everywhere she looks. Someone, actually several someones are moving around, but she can't quite tell who, just yet. Wiping the film from her eyes, she can see Achak is still up and moving around, but there's two others with him. Are they our ambushers? Why would Achak be talking with them like that, if they were? He does seem rather agitated, the way he's whiteknuckling that rifle of his... She finds her blade only a foot away, and slowly creeps her hand along the ground, toward it. Still not knowing the situation, she doesn't want to draw any attention to the fact that she's conscious. Perhaps he's just buying time with the ambushers, waiting for me to wake up, so we can finish off these last two? Suddenly, the question dawns on her, How am I awake, anyways?

She quickly reboots all her gear and looks over the information from her biomonitor. Aha! Someone just stimpatched me! Must have been Achak. These two don't know I'm alive, but he does, from the biomonitor! Don't worry, friend. I've got your back! Then, she gets a message on her comm.

<<@Sister Rebecca [Achak] Rise and shine and give God the glory, glory. The runners' story is we stole from the Vory, Vory.>>

Rebecca is utterly flabbergasted. Try as she might, her jumbled brain just can't piece together what is going in here or the events that led up to it. By now, the male is already talking to the female, but the good Sister isn't really paying attention. Using her trodes, she mentally sends a reply to her ally, still without standing up or revealing that she's awake.

"I need to know what else y'all had planned cause I doubt it took a whole week's planning to set up a simple ambush."

Slowly, with a quiet groan as every muscle in her body fervently argues against it, she stands up, holding the Blade of Gabriel in her right hand. Smoke still wafts from her singed armorjacket. She speaks quietly, but forcefully. "I'd like to hear your answer as well."

<<@Sister Rebecca [Achak] Male is Mercer. The hunter from the CAS who I told you about in the car on the way back from Duncan's. The one we were thinking about going to see in Dallas. I don't know why he's here right now. Maybe he came to look for us just like we were going to look for him. I... I can't understand it all yet either. I didn't even know he was alive until a minute ago.

<<Female is the last standing member of the runner team. I guaranteed her safe passage in exchange for information and reparations. She healed your burns. I... might need the same from you for this gunshot wound before you pass out. That stimpatch won't last you long and this shoulder might be beyond repair by the time you're awake again. You only have a few minutes before it's lights out again and before my hit of Jazz drops off. We're going to be a pile of hot mess. Clock is ticking.>>

The supplies on her medkit lacking, the magician takes an escorted trip back to the Roadmaster to grab additional supplies. She returns looking a little ashen but is otherwise holding up well, all things considered. She leans next to the man with the Alpha and injects medical foam into the gaping wound at his jawline before administering the drugs that will bring him back to consciousness.

"What's done is done. You've got a good head on your shoulders, makin' right and saving your chums" he looks at the invisible man's corpse " - well, most of 'em" he remembers the gangers shooting the decker in the van "- one of 'em. World could use more people like you, but what the world needs takes a backseat to what I need right now, and I need to know what else y'all had planned cause I doubt it took a whole week's planning to set up a simple ambush."

"Well, there was the hardware to consider. Ikiryo here," she says motioning to the man minus face, "brought us on for the job. And then there was the murder room we rigged, down in Redmond. Abandoned, underground, quiet. Good spot. But mostly it was waiting. We were told that the Johnson would send pics and coordinates once the targets showed themselves, and we would need to strike quickly. The info came in late last night, so we all assembled then. We knew that hitting the apartment would be a bad call, so Ikiryo said we should isolate your team once you guys split up. 'Stake' was the first to split, so Ikiryo and I trailed him to the Barrens, while Tiny, Dib, and the decker -- Ranier -- watched you two. We had no intel on this one, so kudos to you, chummer," she says to Mercer.

"Anyway, you didn't take the bait, and I said we should hold back, but Ikiryo said we needed to push on, or drek was going to get really bad for us. Dib and Tiny kept watch on the apartment while Ranier worked his magic on your comms, or tried to at least. He said he was fighting some pretty bad security there. But we had a drone on you, and met up across the way before breaching."

Ikiryo begins to stir and coughs up a little blood, and what looks like a piece of tongue. He glances around the sanctuary languidly for a moment, before his present circumstances dawn on him, and he turns to the magician. "You dumb slitch. Better you'd fucking died. You're dead anyway. They're dead anyway. I'm dead anyway. Better that you fucking died than what they'll have planned for you for failing." His sputterings are raspy and labored. The man bangs the back of his head against the floor and looks up at the ceiling before attempting to bring himself up on one arm.

"Ah, fuck it," he says reaching his hand into a pocket of skin in his abdomen.

"We had no intel on this one, so kudos to you, chummer," she says to Mercer.

Mercer ignores the comment, and eventually the ork continues. She lays out how the ambush went down while Mercer mulls over the possibilities of a murder room + Stake. It likely meant that Stake was dead by a bullet - or magic - rather than a worse fate. He knew better than to interrupt when a canary started singing, so he held his question until she was finished, but no sooner is he about to speak when Ikiryo stirs.

Ikiryo curses and screams and Mercer is just about to reel him in with a good slap when the man reaches for a hidden pouch in his abdomen. The man's face registers surprise as he withdraws his empty hand. Mercer directs the man's attention to the Streetline Special sitting on the floor about ten feet away by exaggerating a glance at it. The man does some arithmetic and concludes his odds of reaching the weapon are slim, especially since Achak stands roughly between him and the gun. He slumps back, defeated.

"Ikiryo," Mercer begins, making sure the man knows that he is at a disadvantage, not only physically, but informationally as well. He squats down to bring his eyes more level with the other man's, though still slightly higher in order to maintain the psychological high ground. "I can't say it's a pleasure to finally meet you, but it is a relief in its own way. I'm afraid we just kept missing each other, though I gotta say, your choice in mages has certainly improved since we first crossed paths." The overcasting mage - likely the only reason Mercer was still here today - had been overeager during Mercer's turn in the murder room. He was playing a hunch that Ikiryo was nearby during that fiasco, but they hadn't met. Either way, it was almost certain that Iki knew who he was.

"I know more distasteful details than I want to about you, but I'm a little fuzzy on the ones holding your leash. I know what they are, just not who. Your erstwhile friend here is somewhat peeved you never clued her in to what a Hunter is," he pauses to make a sideways glance at the mage, "Bounty Hunter, though the fun part is which bounties we collect."

He looks back to Iki. "Point is, I have a pretty good idea what the punishment for failure is, and I certainly won't argue that it's worse than death. If you give me what I want, you can take the easy way out." Again, he glances in the direction of the Streetline Special. "You don't - let's just hope your masters aren't as creative as some I've seen."

Mercer looks to Achak, then continues. "So, if there's no objections, let's kick this off. My twitchy friend here and I would like to know what you've done with our buddy, Stake. I'm under no illusions he's in a good way, but I'm hoping you two dealt with him rather than leaving him for the monsters you work for. I'll open the floor to the both of you for this one." He finishes by indicating both the mage and Iki.

If Mercer is playing the good cop, or at least the coherent cop, then Achak will play the blitzed-on-amphetamines cop. "Where's Stake!!! Tell me about Stake!!! You better spill about Stake!!!" He pounds the wooden remains of a nearby pew with the butt of his Alpha to punctuate his interest in the matter.

"I know more distasteful details than I want to about you, but I'm a little fuzzy on the ones holding your leash. I know what they are, just not who. Your erstwhile friend here is somewhat peeved you never clued her in to what a Hunter is," he pauses to make a sideways glance at the mage, "Bounty Hunter, though the fun part is which bounties we collect."

"And I am a shadowrunner," Ikiryo says. "The reason I am hired is because I don't know who 'holds my leash,' as you say. We, at least, have a code."

If Mercer is playing the good cop, or at least the coherent cop, then Achak will play the blitzed-on-amphetamines cop. "Where's Stake!!! Tell me about Stake!!! You better spill about Stake!!!" He pounds the wooden remains of a nearby pew with the butt of his Alpha to punctuate his interest in the matter.

The ork looks down, unable to make eye contact with Mercer, Achak, or Sister Rebecca. "He's geeked. It was fast, but he's gone."

Ikiryo spits another glob of blood in her general direction, and says, "This will not save you."

The ork brings her eyes up to Achak finally and adds, "His TransysAvalon, that's how he's been talking to the Johnson."

Achak listens gravely as the ork confirms Stake's fate. The Amerind gnaws on an invisible piece of gum, grinding his teeth. For a moment, the weight of the situation overrides the Jazz and slows him down. This is all the better for Sister Rebecca, who is massaging Achak's shoulder strangely.

This morning, he was alive. How could Stake have been so careless after all these years? Achak asks himself. A dog wails mournfully in his head.

He tries to readjust his thinking. Shall we accept good from God, and not evil? Perhaps true, but that doesn't take away the knot in his stomach. His shoulder is starting to feel better though.

He knows he will be crashing soon and he'd rather be away from here when it happened. Jazz left you miserable and despondent, and the news about Stake would only compound the matter.

"Let's get his commlink," Achak says while returning the ork's eye contact. "Hopefully it's implanted." He looks to Sister Rebecca's Blade of Gabriel.

Watching the ork. "You'll want to be walking out with us. The rest we're leaving for the locals. But we need to see a significant donation to the church here. They have a long road of repair ahead of them."

Achak looks to Mercer. "Sounds like you have a ride outside. We can hit the road and compare notes."

"And I am a shadowrunner," Ikiryo says. "The reason I am hired is because I don't know who 'holds my leash,' as you say. We, at least, have a code."

Mercer immediately speaks his mind - perhaps a little more emotionally than he would have liked.

"So, then it is you that have no idea what they have planned for failing. But apparently you do or you wouldn't be so concerned. So let's assume for a moment that you have seen their handiwork and are still too dumb to piece it together - to still willingly work for such employers. You may have a code, but you have no honor, no principles. No Humanity."

There were many types of Shadowrunners - professionals, thrill seekers, desperate hoodlums, even crusaders. He had pegged Ikiryo as the first type, but he was beginning to suspect that he might also be the most disturbing type of runner - the sadist. It wasn't really a class in and of itself, any type of Shadowrunner could be one, and while he generally opted for non-lethal options against non-Infected, this type of meta came dangerously close to an exception. You didn't have to be Infected to be a monster.

Mercer looked to the other woman in the room, the stocky, armored Hunter that still had the air shimmering around her from the heat her armor - and she - had endured. She looked unaugmented and that usually meant an Awakened in this line of work. Perhaps she could answer a question that had been niggling Mercer for a while now. Was Iki a thrall or an independent contractor? He mentally commands his comm to send a message to hers, pulling her public code from the AR tag.

<< @Crispy [Mercer] Didn't catch your name, but it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance anyway. I was hopin' you might be able to do me a solid and use that third-eye vision stuff on our pals here and let me know what you see. Feel. However it works. Assuming you got that gift - it ain't always so plain to tell. >>

The ork looks down, unable to make eye contact with Mercer, Achak, or Sister Rebecca. "He's geeked. It was fast, but he's gone."

Mercer nods solemnly. But it was the best alternative among a number of undesirable possibilities. He eyes Achak, not sure how he might take the news. He can practically hear the grinding of the man's teeth.

Ikiryo spits another glob of blood in her general direction, and says, "This will not save you."

The ork brings her eyes up to Achak finally and adds, "His TransysAvalon, that's how he's been talking to the Johnson."

Drek! It looks like I'll be calling in another expensive favor from his favorite decker. He was pretty sure his funds couldn't support it. Achak suggests grabbing the commlink, and Mercer grabs it from the floor where it had ended up, not far from the Iki's assault rifle.

<< @Achak,Smokin'Hot [Mercer] Y'all know anything about crackin' comms? Or got a buddy that does? All the Matrix Cowboys I trust are either dead or way out of my price range. >>

<<@Sister Rebecca [Achak] Male is Mercer. The hunter from the CAS who I told you about in the car on the way back from Duncan's. The one we were thinking about going to see in Dallas. I don't know why he's here right now. Maybe he came to look for us just like we were going to look for him. I... I can't understand it all yet either. I didn't even know he was alive until a minute ago.

<<Female is the last standing member of the runner team. I guaranteed her safe passage in exchange for information and reparations. She healed your burns. I... might need the same from you for this gunshot wound before you pass out. That stimpatch won't last you long and this shoulder might be beyond repair by the time you're awake again. You only have a few minutes before it's lights out again and before my hit of Jazz drops off. We're going to be a pile of hot mess. Clock is ticking.>>

The smoldering helmed woman listens to the way the newcomer takes charge of the situation and admires him a bit for it. The term, natural leader comes to mind as she slowly moves sideways across the room, toward Achak and his wounded shoulder. She speaks subvocally to him as she approaches, never taking her eyes off the mage woman or Ikiryo. "I'm still quite blurry and I don't trust my spellcasting at the moment." Before the look of disappointment finishes getting all the way across her companion's massive face, she adds, "But fear not. I've still got you covered." Stepping over the remains of one final shattered church pew, she reaches his side, and sheathes her mighty blade. Kneeling down on the floor, she places both hands on Achak's shoulder, one on the entrance wound and one on the exit. She lowers her head and speaks a few near inaudible words in latin. After a few seconds, Achak feels a slight sensation of warmth and realizes that the pain, as well as the bleeding in his shoulder has stopped entirely. If her face were visible, he'd have seen the good sister grit her teeth in pain as she absorbed his wound onto herself. She makes no sound to give herself away.

The conversation between the three of them still doesn't make a ton of sense to her frazzled brain right now, but it snaps clearly into focus when the big man slams his hand down on the table and demands,

<< @Crispy [Mercer] Didn't catch your name, but it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance anyway. I was hopin' you might be able to do me a solid and use that third-eye vision stuff on our pals here and let me know what you see. Feel. However it works. Assuming you got that gift - it ain't always so plain to tell. >>

<< @Achak,Smokin'Hot [Mercer] Y'all know anything about crackin' comms? Or got a buddy that does? All the Matrix Cowboys I trust are either dead or way out of my price range. >>

Staying by Achak's side with her blade re-drawn, her trodes send off a reply.

<<@Mercer [Sister Rebecca] The woman is magically weak. She's terrified and unaugmented. The man is a mess. He hates you, but he knows he's beaten. He's also got a comm in his head, along with a boatload of other chrome. His essence is shockingly low, even considering the implants.>>